This past week Julie and I headed out to New York to catch up with some friends and see some baseball.

SingleCut Beersmiths

One of our stops in Astoria was SingleCut Beersmiths which I believe opened earlier this year. SingleCut has a small tap room at their brewery with a loft area for a band. The brewery is located in a somewhat industrial/shopping area in Astoria.  We stopped by in the early evening and caught the Hawks – Kings game on our phone as there are no TVs. They do have a solid vinyl collection which plays most of the time until the band comes on. I managed to make my way around their beer selection and I liked their Queens Lagrrr and the Neil Ol’ Blackie IPA best.  The barrels in the photographs above are actually filled with fermenting beer, notice the air locks on each barrel.

Citi Field: Mets – Marlins

While in town we managed to see the Mets – Marlins game.  The Mets lost and not in the normally allotted time.

An Hour or so in Brooklyn


On Tuesday morning we made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge via Manhattan. We walked the bridge, which about 40% of the bridge was under tarps, and headed over to Grimaldi’s Pizzeria at the base on the other side.  Grimaldi’s is located basically under the bridge on the Brooklyn side.  Much like Lombardi’s, Grimaldi’s is a coal-fired pizza.  According to the convoluted history the founder, Patsy Grimaldi, wanted to open in Manhattan but by that time coal-fired ovens were illegal so he opened up shop in Brooklyn.

Down the street and still in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge is the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. All of the ice cream is freshly made in small batches. The selection is limited but worth checking out. Also, the building is at the base of the Fulton Ferry Landing so you have a great view of the Manhattan skyline.

The Clipper City

We used some coupon site to get a 50% ticket on the Manhattan by Sail’s tall ship the City Clipper. We did the ‘Daytime Statue Sail’ which takes off from South Street Seaport and heads out to the Statue of Liberty and back. We were on the boat for about 90 minutes. I guess there is also a Lobster & Beer tour they do and I have no idea how we missed it. The ship can hold up to 150 passengers (we probably had 40 or so) which is the most of any passenger sailboat in the United States. It wasn’t really a tour boat as much as a leisure ship with a fully stocked bar.

In summary there were great views, a full bar and there was no guy with a bullhorn pointing out landmarks.

Alewife

For dinner one night we ended up at Alewife in Long Island City which was within walking distance to our hotel. Alewife is a ‘craft beer’ bar with a massive selection of draft and bottles along with a solid menu. I’ve been to their sister bar, Lord Hobo, in Cambridge, MA. which is very similar. We had dinner and then pretty much called it a night, I would have liked to have spent more time there.

Side Notes:

* Julie and I killed the better part of a rainy afternoon at McSorley’s.

** This is how NYC does trash.

*** Plane photographs.  We almost made it back to Chicago but were diverted to Louisville.  Good times.

**** The view from our hotel in Long Island City.
***** We had dinner with Jim Wallis at Upstate Craft Beer & Oyster Bar and it was amazing once again. Last year when we were in town we stumbled upon it and I’m glad we were able to do it again. The place is small, even by New York standards, we hung out for a couple of minutes and the host was able to fit us in at the bar. The bartender, the food and the beer selection were all great.